Merchandising Manager, SEA / ANZ

Job Summary

This role is responsible for developing and executing strategic merchandise and inventory plans to optimize the performance of footwear categories across all channels. It demands deep product knowledge, trend foresight, and customer behavior insights in footwear. The Manager ensures a commercially viable assortment is available in the right store at the right time, driving both revenue and customer satisfaction.

Key Responsibilities:

Footwear Merchandise Strategy

• Build seasonal and long-term assortments tailored to local and regional consumer preferences in footwear.
• Leverage trend forecasting and sales data to shape product mix across lifestyle, performance, and fashion footwear.
• Partner with Global teams to ensure regional fit and competitive differentiation due to seasonality and market needs
• Ensure seasonal sample ordering ahead of GTM.

Inventory & Allocation Management

• Monitor stock levels across styles, sizes, colors, and store locations to ensure optimal coverage.
• Manage replenishment plans based on store performance, sell-through, and size curve analysis.
• Implement stock balancing strategies to reduce aged inventory and maximize floor productivity.

Sales & Forecasting Analysis

• Analyze performance across all footwear categories
• Prepare weekly and monthly performance dashboards with KPIs like style/color/size sell-through, margin, and turnover.
• Adjust forecasts to reflect seasonal demand shifts (e.g., back-to-school, holiday, summer sandals) and consumer behavior.

Open-to-Buy (OTB) Management

• Lead the planning and execution of Open-to-Buy frameworks for monthly, quarterly, and seasonal budgets.
• Monitor available spend against planned inventory investments and revise purchasing strategy accordingly.
• Ensure OTB plans align with financial targets and respond flexibly to market trends and sales performance.

Pricing & Promotions Execution

• Recommend retail price points and markdowns in alignment with competitors, product lifecycle, and brand positioning.
• Coordinate promotional calendars with marketing and store teams, including clearance events and exclusive drops.
• Evaluate promotion effectiveness and ROI for future campaigns.

Store & Visual Merchandising & Marketing Collaboration

• Liaise with store operations, VM & Marketing to develop impactful in-store footwear displays.
• Ensure product presentation supports brand identity and facilitates customer engagement.

Leadership & Team Management

• Lead and teach merchandiser on their job function to ensure growth and empowerment trajectory.
• Foster innovation and agility in assortment planning and inventory control.

Accountabilities:

• Achieving category sales and margin goals through robust footwear planning and execution.
• Setting a consistent pricing architecture across SEA
• Reducing missed sales and excess inventory via inter store transfer and replenishment strategies.
• Driving customer satisfaction through availability of top-performing SKUs and trend-relevant styles.
• Delivering insight-driven decisions that influence seasonal buys, marketing, and in-store execution.
• Enhancing operational efficiency through forecasting accuracy and inventory health.

Essential Knowledge & Qualifications:

• Tertiary qualification, graduate in Marketing/Business Admin or related field with minimum 8 years of working experience in the fields of Merchandising
• Good knowledge of footwear markets and consumers demands and trends in SEA
• Good knowledge of planning and merchandising systems, including OTB and stock turns

Technical Skills:

• Microsoft Office, with special focus on MS Excel (pivot table), Power Business Intelligence (PBI) and SAP
• Proficient command in English, both written and oral

Successful Experience:

• Knowledge and experience in footwear and/or apparel merchandising
• Experienced inworking in a retail or wholesale environment
• Possess a commercial mindset with knowledge of the latest trends and overall fashion market

Competencies:

• Good interpersonal skills; self-initiator and a team player
• Strong communication skills with all functional stakeholders
• Decision Making & Empowerment
• Commercial mindset
• Customer Centric

About Clarks

Two brothers, a small town, and shoes that changed the world. Based in Somerset, England, Clarks has redefined shoemaking since its foundation in 1825, when James and Cyrus Clark made a slipper from sheepskin off-cuts and forever transformed the future of footwear.

Sparking revolutions and defining generations, our archive of over 25,000 shoes includes the inimitable Clarks Desert Boot™ and Clarks Wallabee™. And every pair we design today uses the same ground-breaking combination of invention and craftsmanship that started it all.

Progress is woven into our DNA. Whether we’re pioneering cutting-edge comfort technologies, championing social change, or working on trailblazing collaborations with cultural icons and KOLs, we’re always striding forward.

Join us in 2025 as we celebrate 200 years of giving people the freedom to move comfortably, proudly commemorating our legacy of craft, innovation, and impact – and looking boldly ahead, too.